Methinks the incessant buzzing never left the room from the day before. I walked into the room at school and I heard a lot of ?OMG what am I going to do?" "I'm going to kill Ferrit." "The deep fryer is being soaked for cleaning, how am I going to fry my chicken?" And round and round it went in circles all about the room.
Written on the dreaded Board was our curve ball. We were "allowed" chef's knife, tongs, 1 tasting spoon, 1 sauté pan, 1 pot, 1 sizzle platter and 1 plate to make and serve our 3 course meals with. @@ huh? Then Ding, I thought to myself, at least we don't have to trade our mise trays. I get to work with the menu that I thought up and not try and figure out someone elses mess. YAY!
I have to say that This was a Happy day for me all the way around. For the very First time in this class I was in my game and I had prepped out my Mise en Place so well that even with his curve ball I was going to be alright. The night before I had typed out my menu and worked on the Nutrition analysis so my mental Mise en Place was definitely in place and I was ready to Rock the House. The one stipulation that I had dorked on was that we could Not repeat ingredients in the dishes. At first, in my mind, I was going to make Cocotte potatoes with my pork loin and I had prepped for it and diced my potatoes but at the last minute I decided to put potatoes into my soup to help thicken it so... Out with the cocotte potatoes and in with the Basmati Pilaf. It's a good thing that I thought about this while I was writing up my menu the night before and had it implanted in my brain.
Line up was done and Off we went to grab our Mise trays and start the last of our term Finals. Got Mise Tray, check. Pot, pan, knife, tongs, spoon, plate & platter, check. Put my soup in the pot and on the stove. Went to the fridge and found Microgreens and decided to add that to my appetizer dish. Mixed up the vinaigrette, tossed the greens and cucubers, and started plating up the Galantine dish... and Up to the Pass. One down.
Sauté pan to the oven and oil to fry up my Taro chips. TAAT the soup. OOoh, I can't serve soup in a plate. "Chef, may I use a Mise cup for my soup.?" "yes, I'm ok with that." Oo, the soup is Hot, the cup will melt. "Chef, may I use aluminum foil?" "yes, I'm ok with that". So I take the foil and line the mise cup. Taro chips on the sizzle platter and soup in my make shift soup bowl... and Up to the Pass. Two down.
Wash my plate and pot. Used the pot to make my Pilaf, check. Schnitzel, I need to do the basic breading procedure of flour, egg, breading, but no bowls allowed, Hmm? Ding, Aluminum...Get aluminum and make a little divider in it. Mix my egg in a large mise cup and got my Pork loin breaded. check. Tossed my aspargus in olive oil and roasted them in the oven with the sizzle platter. check. Fried my Schnitzel and plated up... and Up to the Pass with 5 minutes left on the clock. Thee down. Breath... Wind down.
It's finally over. We had our last Round table with Chef Frerichs. Today was Chef Frerichs last day as an Instructor for Le Cordon Bleu. He is on his way to New Jersey to work for Campbells soup. We all wrote our farewells to him on the board and awaited his arrival back into the classroom. We were all standing around the round table and Applauded him as he made his entrance into the room. We had our final class discussion with him and he shared with us his words of wisdom before saying his last goodbyes.
People were eager to find out what their final grades were and the first person to ask about them was Shamus and Chef is so funny, He told Shamus that he would give the grades out to everyone but him. He would get his grade the next day but by then he'd be in the middle of Montana and that Shamus would be more than welcome to come and meet him in Montana to pick up his grade LOL...
So when it was all said and done I squeaked out an A- for the term. And I say squeaked out because for my first couple of weeks of the term I was at a B+.
Thank you Chef Frerichs for all the hard work... It has been a pleasure and I'm so happy that I was able to experience my 3rd term with you at the Helm. More words to come but that will be another blog.
Off to 21 Acres I go to make Pizzas in an outdoor fire oven with Chef Moore and the Ambassadors.
And that's my blog, yet again, for my BFFs today.
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